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Liberman spawns 'alliance of the underprivileged'

Attacks by Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Liberman on Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties has pushed the two groups into a surprising alliance.

Avigdor Lieberman, head of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party delivers a statement at the Knesset, Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem November 20, 2019. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RC2ZED9OQ503
Avigdor Liberman, head of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu, delivers a statement at the Knesset, Jerusalem, Nov. 20, 2019. — REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Israel’s political system is currently ensnared in a dizzying spiral the likes of which it has never known. The unprecedented decision by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to indict an incumbent prime minister on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust has rattled Israeli politics, which was already suffering from deep polarization, and this is just the beginning. In a nationally televised response to Mandelblit’s announcement of the indictments on Nov. 21, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that he is being subjected to an “attempted coup.”

Netanyahu and his blind supporters, who deny the charges against him and do not respect the courts' rulings, appear to have decided that going forward, all is fair. Netanyahu, heavily influenced by his legal woes, will push Israel into a third election in less than a year to gin up public support at the ballot box in the hope that his supporters will at least acquit him in the court of public opinion.

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